US President Donald Trump’s repeated claim that India will almost completely stop buying oil from Russia by the end of this year has made the issue a litmus test for India’s strategic autonomy. Even the EU, the largest buyer of Russian pipeline gas and LNG, has been urging India to stop purchasing Russian oil and has even sanctioned an Indian company over its links with Russia. Russian ambassador to India Denis Alipov’s assertions of mechanisms existing to minimise sanction risks in an interview with this newspaper must be read against the backdrop.

In recent months, India and China together have purchased about 4 million barrels per day (mbpd) from Russia. Between April and September, India imported about 1.75 mbpd — roughly 36% of its total crude imports. Chinese companies, meanwhile, have been importing around 1.4 mbpd by sea, while PetroChina brings in an additional 900,000 barrels per day through pipeline.

Although Trump has often accused India of “funding Russia’s war”, he did not raise oil purchases with Chinese President Xi Jinping during their meeting in South Korea. China has rejected US sanctions on Russian oil majors Rosneft........

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